September 2012

September was a very busy month.  I pretty much spent my summer prepairing for my brother's fundraiser.  He has Myelofibrosis a form of leukemia, a blood type cancer.

He was diagnosed in November about a week or so after the death of my beloved niece Brandie.  So, coming up on a year now - Shaun has prepared hiself for this journey.  April 20th was his last day of work.  He probably had around 12 or so blood transfusions from October to July.

August 6th, Room 804, 8th floor of the University of Washington Medical Center.  This floor is ventilated with purified air and other immunities that help with fighting bacteria.  This is where my brother called home for the next 30 days. The first week flew by.  I went to visit him the first time that Saturday with his girlfriend Jen.  He seemed to be doing just fine. 
The second time I visited was Tuesday, August 14th, the first day of chemo.  The third visit; another week had gone by and he was ok, just starting to feel symptoms.  Alot of upset stomach, diarrhea, minimal vommitting and eventually loss of facial hair and hair on his head.  The number one symptom that he had that made matters even worse - sores in his mouth.  I think they call them legions. He could not eat, nor swallow.  They gave him a sucking tube like the ones that they have at the dentist, to suck out the flem and spit that was so gross. It was white and thick like egg whites. At one time they had 7 different IV's running through him at once. Of course one was for nutrition. They had him on morphine at the highest level (without killing him)  During this period was the scarest for me and my mom.  He did not look or act himself.  Even his eyes were different. I thought I was going to lose my brother. I remember getting to the car and and both me and my mom broke down.  It was aweful.
Earlier that day/visit; We sat in the family waiting room to regroup and use the restroom.  On the fridge was numerous messages from families asking others to pray for there loved ones.  It just makes my heart hurt that so many have died and still there is no cure for this horrible diesase.  We met a girl in the family waiting room whoe's brother also had a bone marrow transplant.  She told us that her brother had the transplant over a year ago and is having problem after problem.  He actually caught a cold and had pneumonia. Not so positive but glad to have held her hand and give her a hug. Sometimes even though you are nothing but strangers even at the worst of times a gentle touch can be comforting. I prayed for her brother that night.  As I type, I wonder now if he made it through. 
After that the visits were better.  Jayden came with one time.  James came too.  lots of visitors and lots of loving words and prayers.

 
Today, is around the 75th day that the transplant was done.  He currently is still in Seattle.  He can only be 20 miles away from the South Seattle Care Alliance Center.  Which means he is staying at his brother, Marty's house tell released.  He has been tested several times a week to make sure things are going ok, they have found a few cells have duplicated, which is a good sign.  Blood counts have been low a few times so he has had a few blood transfusions but nothing major.  He has had a few infection scares but nothing they couldn't fix.  He has no immune system so he needs to be monitored.  They are testing this week to see if he can be released since things are running so smooth. 
I am not a churchy person, I believe in God or a higher power...I pray and I believe in the power of prayer. Please keep him in your prayers so he can come home. :)

Today I am grateful for my family.  My brother means a lot to me. I am glad that he is still here and that I got to be there for him.  We are 8 years apart so I don't remember much about him growing up. Besides the nuggies on my head and name calling :)  I do know him now and I can't imagine losing him.  I know that we can't all live forever but it really makes you open your eyes and see life in a new way.  He was given a second chance at life, new changes and new mind set.  I can't wait to see him start his new journey. I am sorry for all of those who have lost someone dear to them.

As for the fundraiser.  It was held on my birthday. Best birthday ever.  It was at the Eagles downtown.  We had over 100 items to auction.  it was absolutely one of the best days of my life.  And knowing I did it all because of Shaun and all the people that came and helped was truly a blessing.  We raised a lot of money that night to help him pay for medical bills.  I have never felt so grateful in my life. The power of people helping people is amazing.  :)

Here is me and James - terrified to talk at the fundraiser.  I wasn't preparred at all lol and my brother wrote a thank you for me to read - I totally choked!

Me and My mom

All the helpers!!! :)

Summer

Holy Cow I am terrible at blogging! My last post was from Jan...tisk tisk! Quick reveiw so when I'm 75 I can read back through and try and remember what the heck I did all this time! lol Jan-April were a blur. James was laid off and it was really hard keeping things up. It really put a stress on me, him and "us". So, with that said, we are trying now to get things moving forward agian and hope to get out of this rut soon. It's amazing how far behind you can get when you live pay check to pay check. During his layoff he did some side work for his dad and step mom. They were nice enough to pay him a little here and there for helping out at there little pleasant forest palace. My mom also helped, as always and I am very greatful for the help that was giving our way during that difficult time.

Jayden turned THREE this year! We had a spiderman theme. It was a hit! I made cupcakes and all the kids got to make super hero masks. We also had a very special visit for Spidey himself (aka Fred Smith). Jayden got a lot of nice gifts and we all had a great day!






Not sure even what happened to May.  James and I had our 2 year anniversary on May 20th and June flew by....July 4th was on a Wednesday this year.  We ended up going over to Ryan and Kelly's for a bbq and to watch fireworks.  We also went to the Tumwater 4th of July Parade. We had our 8th Annual Cornhole Tournament on July 21st. For you who do not know what cornhole is - it's basically a game of tossing bean bags, sort of like horseshoes.  This year we started it at noon.  Way to early.  But, the weather was great to us and we all had a good time.  Joe Lee and his partner Skyler won first place, and my dad and Chuck Leonard won 2nd.  Good job guys!!!

We finally made our Ocean shores trip.  Spent a few days down there.  Relaxing.  This year it was surf and turf weekend (July 28-29th).  Tons of people and lots of bikes.  We went swimming, played in the sand, ate tons of food and had way too much to drink! Jayden won a few things at the little arcade fun zone and before we left we had to have ice cream! :)

August has arrived and the weather is HOT! 90's...yesterday we sat outside in our pool (blow up).  It cooled us down.  Glad we can atleast have a few hot days over a weekend!

Today my brother undergoes his first chemotherapy treatment.  I hope that everything goes well and we are all staying focused and positive for him.  I can't believe it's really happening.  Every day I think about him and hope for his healthy recovery. He is staying with his half brother, Marty up in Seattle.  And is doing the treatment now at the University of WA.  He had a hickman line/port put in last week and all kinds of test and dental work, another blood transfusion and platelets too.  Lots of new learning ~

Benalongtime

September was my last entery. Wow. So much has gone on since. It's been a tornado of things. Lets see...

October we celebrated the life of my dear neice Brandie. She died on Halloween morning - drug related. She was only 24 years old. She left behind 2 beautiful daughters, husband. I still to this very moment, get teary eyed, still in shock. Very hard on our whole family. On a lighter note, we had the best experience trick or treating with Michelle and Ethan downtown. I will continue to take Jayden there it was the best ever. So many kids and the whole night was lit up. Jayden was Buzz lightyear from Toy Story.

While in November, my brother was diagnosed with Mylofribrosis, a form of leukemia. He's going through several blood transfusions. One about every 2 weeks so far. This Monday he has an appointment to discuss a bone marrow transplant. It's hard to think that my only sibling has the "C" word. The doctors say they don't really call it Cancer but I say if it's a from of leukemia and leukemia is cancer, then it's cancer. Thanksgiving we spent in Wenatchee with James's mom.

December, came and went. My Christmas was awesome, relaxing just celebrating with family. Just 2 days before, a rock hit James's passenger side window while he was driving on i-5 shattered it to pieces.

New Years we spent on the couch :) I loved it! We just got over a snow storm. Our power was out for 3 days, which wasn't bad considering some lost power for 7. It snowed about 16 inches. We went sledding, Jayden loved it. He wouldn't go alone but wanted to go right after the next. I was out of work for 3 days, we lost power Friday. We had one tree that looked like it was leaning, now we are monitoring it. We have many branches all over the place, looks like a mess. Can't wait for summer!